It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

This weekly meme is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date.

I'm reading: 

This is my pick for First Book Of The Year! I heard that it's a great psychological thriller.

TITLE: White Bodies

AUTHOR: Jane Robins

PUBLISHER: Touchstone

PUBLICATION DATE: September 19, 2017

FORMAT: Hardcover
LENGTH: 297 pages

GENRE: Mystery, Thriller/Psychological Thriller

ISBN: 9781501165085

Felix and Tilda seem like the perfect couple: young and in love, a financier and a beautiful up-and-coming starlet. But behind their flawless façade, not everything is as it seems.

Callie, Tilda’s unassuming twin, has watched her sister visibly shrink under Felix’s domineering love. She has looked on silently as Tilda stopped working, nearly stopped eating, and turned into a neat freak, with mugs wrapped in Saran Wrap and suspicious syringes hidden in the bathroom trash. She knows about Felix’s uncontrollable rages, and has seen the bruises on the white skin of her sister’s arms.

Worried about the psychological hold that Felix seems to have over Tilda, Callie joins an internet support group for victims of abuse and their friends. However, things spiral out of control and she starts to doubt her own judgment when one of her new acquaintances is killed by an abusive man. And then suddenly Felix dies—or was he murdered?

Not only am I a first generation Canadian, but immigration is my profession. 

TITLE: Wherever I Find Myself: Stories by Canadian Immigrant Women

AUTHOR: Miriam Matejova (editor)

PUBLISHER: Caitlin Press

PUBLICATION DATE: February 7, 2017

FORMAT: Paperback
LENGTH: 216 pages
GENRE: Nonfiction

ISBN: 9781987915341

Edited by Miriam Matejova, Wherever I Find Myself is a diverse collection of stories about the joys and struggles of immigrant women living in Canada. Often bringing with them the shadow of war and the guilt of leaving, the women in this new anthology expose their emotional pain but also their gratitude for being able to call Canada home. Their stories paint touching and charming portraits of cultural and linguistic misunderstandings, bureaucratic hurdles, attempts to navigate unfamiliar landscapes, and a desire to be accepted despite differences in accent, skin colour, or taste in food. Together they form a mosaic of emotions and world-views that underline the immigrant condition for women.

A yellow dress with ruffles, a kind Grade 1 teacher with a surname that’s difficult to spell, cockroaches in the bathroom, the contempt of strangers, and Whitney Houston on the radio–a Filipino woman recalls her experience as a six-year-old immigrant in a ghetto in Mississauga in the 80s. Browsing through a Polish fashion magazine at a European deli, a woman sees herself in an alternative universe of what her life might have been had she never immigrated to Canada. A same-sex couple moves from Minnesota to Ontario to find refuge for their love, but first they must drive a seventeen-foot truck through a blizzard and make it through the frustrating net of Canadian bureaucracy. In search of her origins, a Jewish woman travels to her birthplace in Passau, Germany. There, among rows of European picturesque houses and foreign tombstones of a Jewish cemetery, she finds no memories, only the shadow of Hitler and the ghosts of her parents.

Through these stories of courage, aloneness, and hope, new and established writers reach out to both immigrants and those whose families long ago ceased to identify with the immigrant label. Through their struggles and, at times, endearingly critical looks at Canada, they remind us that many of our perceived divisions are nothing but artificial creations of mind and that all of us are past, current, or potential immigrants.

I am taking this nine-week course with a group of people, which features DVD Study sessions and a Participant Guide with study questions (homework!) for discussion each week. I'm looking forward to this! I've heard the book is great.

TITLE: Boundaries: When to Say Yes, How to Say No to Take Control of Your Life

AUTHORS: Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend

PUBLISHER: Zondervan

PUBLICATION DATE: November 2, 1992

FORMAT: Hardcover
LENGTH: 314 pages

GENRE: Nonfiction, Psychology, Self-Help

ISBN: 9780310585909

Having clear boundaries is essential to a healthy, balanced lifestyle. A boundary is a personal property line that marks those things for which we are responsible. In other words, boundaries define who we are and who we are not. Boundaries impact all areas of our lives: Physical boundaries help us determine who may touch us and under what circumstances -- Mental boundaries give us the freedom to have our own thoughts and opinions -- Emotional boundaries help us to deal with our own emotions and disengage from the harmful, manipulative emotions of others -- Spiritual boundaries help us to distinguish God's will from our own and give us renewed awe for our Creator -- Often, Christians focus so much on being loving and unselfish that they forget their own limits and limitations. When confronted with their lack of boundaries, they ask: - Can I set limits and still be a loving person? - What are legitimate boundaries? - What if someone is upset or hurt by my boundaries? - How do I answer someone who wants my time, love, energy, or money? - Aren't boundaries selfish? - Why do I feel guilty or afraid when I consider setting boundaries? Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend offer biblically-based answers to these and other tough questions, showing us how to set healthy boundaries with our parents, spouses, children, friends, co-workers, and even ourselves.

Another one from my dusty bookshelf, which I am reading aloud to my younger daughter. We loved the first one in the series!

TITLE: Fire and Ice

SERIES: Warriors, Book #2
AUTHOR: Erin Hunter

PUBLISHER: Avon Books

PUBLICATION DATE: June 1, 2004 (first published 2003)

FORMAT: Paperback
LENGTH: 317 pages

GENRE: Young Adult, Fantasy

ISBN: 9780060525590

Fireheart could hear a roaring around him, like wind in tall trees. The acrid stench of the Thunderpath stung his nostrils, together with a new smell, sharper and more terrifying. Fire!

Book Two of Warriors continues Fireheart's quest to be a true warrior, when he finds new danger lurking in the woods as the chill of winter sets in.

WindClan is missing, and hostilities between the remaining three clans place all the cats in peril. Illness and tragic accidents weaken the camp, and ThunderClan needs all its warriors to defend itself - but Fireheart suspects that certain cats may not be as loyal as they appear.

I'm listening to:

Some Shelf Love from my Audible library.

TITLE: The Girl in the Ice

SERIES: Detective Erika Foster, Book #1
AUTHOR: Robert Bryndza

NARRATOR: Jan Cramer
PUBLISHER: Bookouture

PUBLICATION DATE: February 12, 2016

FORMAT: Unabridged audiobook
LENGTH: 10 hrs and 7 mins

GENRE: Mystery/Police Procedural

Her eyes are wide open. Her lips parted as if to speak. Her dead body frozen in the ice...She is not the only one.

When a young boy discovers the body of a woman beneath a thick sheet of ice in a South London park, Detective Erika Foster is called in to lead the murder investigation.

The victim, a beautiful young socialite, appeared to have the perfect life. Yet when Erika begins to dig deeper, she starts to connect the dots between the murder and the killings of three prostitutes, all found strangled, hands bound, and dumped in water around London.

What dark secrets is the girl in the ice hiding?

As Erika inches closer to uncovering the truth, the killer is closing in on Erika.

The last investigation Erika led went badly wrong...resulting in the death of her husband. With her career hanging by a thread, Erika must now battle her own personal demons as well as a killer more deadly than any she's faced before. But will she get to him before he strikes again?

A pause-resisting thriller packed with suspense. If you like Angela Marsons, Rachel Abbott, and Karin Slaughter, discover Rob Bryndza's new series today.

I just finished:

TITLE: Behind the Plaid

SERIES: Highland Bound, Book #1
AUTHOR: Eliza Knight

NARRATORS: Antony Ferguson and Arika Rapson
PUBLISHER: Tantor Audio

PUBLICATION DATE: June 24, 2014 (first published 2013)

FORMAT: Unabridged audiobook
LENGTH: 8 hrs and 14 mins

GENRE: Romance/Historical Romance, Science Fiction/Time Travel

Emma Gordon escapes from a troubling marriage in which she has completely lost sight of who she is. Desperate for independence, she leaves her husband while on a trip in the Scottish Highlands. The only thing is, she ends up hurled back in time to the 16th-century Castle Gealach.

Laird Logan Grant is tormented by a dark past and harbors a secret that could tear his country apart. Unable to resist Emma's beauty and the calm that she invokes, Logan confesses he desires her.

Despite her own reservations, Emma longs to get close to Logan, even while she is desperate to return to her own era. In the end, she embarks on a daring, passionate affair that rocks her to the very core.

TITLE: A Very Gothic Christmas

AUTHOR: Christine Feehan and Melanie George

PUBLISHER: Pocket Books

PUBLICATION DATE: October 31, 2017 (first published 2001)

FORMAT: Paperback
LENGTH: 432 pages

GENRE: Fantasy/Paranormal, Holiday/Christmas

ISBN: 9781501160981

From the “magnificent storyteller” (Romantic Times) Christine Feehan and USA Today bestselling author Melanie George comes two wickedly sexy novellas for the holiday season!

In Christine Feehan’s After the Music, Jessica Fitzpatrick is terrified by mysterious threats. Determined to keep her twin wards safe, she flees to the remote island mansion of their reclusive, widowed father. With Christmas approaching, the spark between him and Jessica might light the future, but there are those whose evil machinations may plunge the family into darkness—unless a Christmas miracle occurs.

In Melanie George’s Lady of the Locket, the echoes of history and romance lure Rachel Hudson to Glengarren, the Scottish castle where her parents met many Christmases ago. But it is the portrait of fierce Highlander Duncan MacGregor that sparks a deep desire inside her. On a storm-tossed night, as lightning cracks across the castle’s turrets, Rachel finds herself face-to-face with MacGregor himself, astride a mighty stallion. Now, stepping into Rachel’s time—and her heart—the warrior from the past is pursued by an ancient, evil enemy.

What are you reading? Have you read any of these books and, if so, what did you think? Please let me know in the comments and, if you are also participating in this meme, leave me a link to your blog post so that I can stop by!